As
for the commonly-understood natural healing arts, the state of Florida
has actually defined what veterinarians, and only veterinarians, are
now legally-allowed to practice on your animals. We are giving you
the details so you can see how unbelievably ridiculous the situation
really is. Our comments follow the official Florida definitions.

Acupressure:Applying pressure to specific energy points in the body to promote
optimum energy flow. It is a harmless touch therapy that amounts
to gently touching somebody. In this case, the Chinese believe it
relieves energy congestions in the body, which, once cleared, restores
normal energy balance and often relieves pain and spasms.

Aromatherapy:The use of volatile plant oils, including essential oils, for psychological
and physical well-being. In human use, these are regulated as
food if ingested. Most, however, are used aromatically or as massage
oils to enhance various aspects of the human spirit and general health.
A little lavender oil on a hanky was commonly used to provide a calming
effect on Victorian ladies. A few drops of mint in a cup of tea is
a nice pick-me-up. Or, just dab a bit of either on your body so you
can smell it and you get the same benefits. Aromatherapy products
are considered harmless, over-the-counter products and have been used
since ancient times in many parts of the world.

Animal
Communication:Interpreting the thoughts of an animal.
Biologist and wildlife expert, Marta Williams, in her book, �Learning
Their Language: Intuitive Communication With Animals and Nature�,
details the history of this healing art and describes it as a developed
form of intuition. In addition, �animal communications� could define
horse whisperer, Monty Roberts, who is regularly brought to England
by Queen Elizabeth for public promotion of his art. Animal whispering
involves subliminal communication with animals. This definition could
also describe National Geographic Channel�s, Cesar Millan, owner of
Cesar Millan�s Dog Psychology Center of Los Angeles, a self-styled
dog psychologist who was also featured on Oprah when he helped Oprah
cure her dog, Sophie, of �separation anxiety� (in just a few minutes
and without the use of any drugs.)

Farriery:Trimming and placing shoes on horses� hooves. Most people are
more familiar with the terms �blacksmith� and �horseshoer� to describe
this trade.

Flower
Essence Therapy:Ingestion of distilled extracts from flowers
to enhance emotional health. What this boils down to is a set
of formulas developed by Edward Bach, MD, a homeopath who practiced
in England in the early part of the 20th Century. Flower essences
were developed as over-the-counter products so that ordinary people,
consulting any number of books, could use them to ameliorate emotional
distresses. Flower essence therapists are people who hang out their
shingle so people can get advice on which flower formulas to take.
Flower essence dosage means two drops of a very diluted substance
put into a glass of water to be sipped or two drops dropped directly
in the mouth. Flower essences have been used worldwide for nearly
100 years without any reports of adverse reactions.

Homeopathy:The use of plant, mineral or other substances in minute, diluted
amounts to stimulate self-healing. Homeopathic products are inexpensive,
non-patentable products that have been available over-the-counter
and used round the world for nearly 200 years without any reports
of adverse reactions. Homeopathy is an energy medicine so there is
only a residue of molecular energy to be found in any homeopathic
remedy, which means there is no risk of chemical cocktail effect even
if taken with modern medical drugs. Since the 1870�s, Big Pharma has
been on a campaign to claim homeopathy is so worthless it doesn�t
work at all. The FDA has regulated these products since 1937.

Hands
on Healing:Laying hands on the body to channel energy.
There are literally hundreds of different touch therapies that fit
this definition and for which training is available in the US and
around the world. Touch therapies provide direct communication with
an animal and can sooth a fearful or angry heart, relax tense and
sore muscles and provide any number of other improvements in the mind,
body and spirit. Hands on healing has been done on people and animals
since ancient times in all cultures.

Magnet
Therapy:Using magnets to create a magnetic field that increases
circulation, oxygen utilization and energy flow. There are various
over-the-counter magnet products that can be used for this purpose.

Nutritional
Counseling:Offering advice about nutrition. In some cases
this means somebody who sells over-the-counter products who is trained
in explaining what the products are used for.

When
a DVM monopoly law was passed in Oklahoma in 2003, it merely added
�complementary and alternative therapies� to the definitional language
of the law without spelling out what these words meant. �Cease and
desist� orders went out to anyone in Oklahoma or elsewhere that the
licensing board could find who they thought might come to Oklahoma
and that they decided was covered by the new DVM monopoly law. Once
news of the law became public, it threw the horse industry into a
major uproar as Oklahoma City has a $4.5 million�dollar-a year horse
show convention business and two race tracks in the state which draw
horses from across the US. The law also outlawed dozens of equine
massage therapists who had graduated from a state-licensed school
of equine massage therapy.

A
�cease and desist� order also went out to an Oklahoma-based importer
and retail seller of over-the-counter British dietary supplements,
homeopathy and aromatherapy products repackaged for animal use. Thanks
to the new law, this business had to shut down its website, its principle
means of advertising its national business.

As
with all states with DVM monopoly laws, horse people, in particular,
are put into a big bind, particularly if they show or race their animals.
Equine massage therapy is very big business as simple massage techniques
or any of the other touch therapies, possibly combined with aromatherapy
or flower essence therapy is the fastest, cheapest and most effective
way to keep a horse in top physical and emotional health even under
the rigors of being hauled all over the countryside then pressed to
the limit in competition. Many of these horses are worth tens of thousands
of dollars and their owners travel to competitions with an entourage
of trainers and handlers who practice natural healing arts. Many drug
therapies are illegal in the equine performance world so use of natural
products and services may mean the difference between a healthy animal
able to perform and an injured animal that may also be suffering from
lack of care.

To
a horseperson, there is nothing worse than an �ouchy� horse that is
upset and not in the mood to cooperate. This is a potentially dangerous
situation for the horse and all the people around it (property included)
and to realize that Big Pharma, in its �strategic partnership� with
the vet industry to create a monopoly put the partnership�s financial
interests ahead of basic safety. This shows just how sorry this DVM
monopoly game really is.

In
another example of the sorry justification of this �strategic partnership�,
in the March 2005 issue of The Horse Gazette, holistic DVM, Madalyn
Ward, wrote a piece reviewing the cost differences between using natural
therapies when possible for a non-competing trail horse that was ridden
two to three times a week versus one using strictly modern medical
therapies over a period of a year. The cost only differed $139 (natural
was cheaper) but it was in the ability to function that told the whole
tale. The horse that had access to natural therapies was sick only
three days during the survey year versus the horse only treated by
modern medicine. That horse was sick 21 days that year.

During
an attempt to restore direct access to natural healing practitioners
in Oklahoma, an access that had been available since before statehood
and which continues to be available BY LAW to parents with children
in need of all manner of similar natural therapies, there were several
excuses used to stall the bill in the legislature. The most outrageous
was the concern, expressed by one vet, that such direct, unsupervised
access might mean legalizing cruelty to animals. We are convinced
that this statement is nothing more than a smokescreen to suggest
that all DVM�s want to do is �protect� animals against harm.

The
fact that no one has any recollection of any complaints filed against
a natural healing arts practitioner for any reason whatsoever for
either man or beast seems to have been missed. In addition, the fact
that DVMs� modern medicine brethren, MDs, do not act as gatekeepers
or, for that matter, have any regulatory authority over any natural
healing arts practice in the state, got ignored in the argument, also.

In
short, as the Oklahoma law now stands, any parent can legally take
a child to any natural healing arts practitioner in the state without
first getting permission from anybody to do so. Conversely, if this
same person takes a family pet to a practitioner for the same natural
healing arts services the child just received, that same person can
be thrown into jail for six months and fined $2,500, thanks to the
new DVM monopoly law. Does this make sense?

Out
of the 1700 vets licensed to practice in Oklahoma only six practice
something called �holistic medicine� according to a national holistic
vet professional trade association and not all of them list a full
complement of holistic services. Instate veterinarian groups don�t
keep any such lists. The state�s veterinary college does not offer
courses in such services and it is pretty doubtful many other vet
schools in other states are going to go whole hog into the business
either.

This
lack of commitment on the part of the veterinary medical industry
to provide natural healing arts is also reflected in the schedule
of seminars and symposiums at the national meeting of the Western
Veterinary Conference. This meeting is billed as the largest vet convention
in the United States and the Conference is one of the �strategic partners�
of the National Commission on Veterinary Economic Issues. Last February,
out of 800 seminars, symposiums and the like, only 10 were devoted
to �complementary� medicine, of which one was a discussion on how
animal owners could be taught to cook homemade dog food. This year�s
conference has upped the schedule to 13 �complementary� medicine presentations.

In
light of the fact the homemade dog food presentation isn�t listed
this year, we have a recipe any natural nutritional counselor would
suggest for your dog -- one part steamed brown rice, one part lightly
steamed mixed vegetables, and one part lightly saut�ed (as rare as
possible) (in extra virgin olive oil) lean turkey, chicken or beef.
But please don�t send us any money for this nutritional advice. Elissa
would be thrown in jail and I�m not sure what the law is in New York
for people like me. I�m only an MD ND who has written lots of books
and articles about nutrition and other natural healing arts subjects.

The
idiocy of these anti-animal-owner DVM monopoly laws should be obvious.
Both Elissa and I have in hand a document called �An Analysis of Relative
Risks and Levels of Risk in Canada� commissioned by one of our Friends
of Freedom International colleagues. Of the many findings in this
study, the most remarkable one is that the risk of dying in Canada
from using the services of natural health care providers and using
therapeutic products is 14 statistical deaths PER BILLION as compared
to an array of modern medical death statistics broken out by each
category per real deaths.

I
wrote in detail about some of these risks in my book, Death
by Modern Medicine. As for putting animals at risk to the
dangers of modern medicine, I even wrote about an example of a crossover
drug that Pfizer, one of the members of the �strategic partnership�
was so anxious to sell. It was its animal arthritis pain killer drug,
Rimadyl, which was promoted through a Christmas card $10 discount
coupon campaign. Herb, a male Weimaraner owned by the host of the
radio show Elissa is on every Saturday (see her bio, below), received
not one but several of these cards. Rimadyl, a Vioxx-type drug had
big problems from the get go. According to a report put together by
The Senior Dog Project, The FDA�s Center for Veterinary Medicine reported
that by May 1, 2003, 2,133 dogs had died as a result of using Rimadyl
since its introduction in 1997.

An
even more alarming article published in USA Today reported that through
November of 2004, the FDA received almost 13,000 adverse-event reports
about Rimadyl, which was much higher than any other dog pain reliever.
USA Today also reported that another dog drug in the same Vioxx-type
class as Rimadyl, is Dermamaxx, developed by another of the American
Veterinary Medical Association�s �strategic partners�, Novartis. Since
its launch in 2002, the FDA has had 2,813 adverse event reports including
630 deaths.

The
market for dog arthritis pain meds tops $130 million a year and, according
to USA Today, it is growing about 13% a year. However according to
the FDA, 3,200 dogs have died and records show there have been almost
19,000 adverse reaction to them.

These
are not the only reports about animal drugs and vaccines that are
alarming, but they should represent a vivid reminder that if you have
a companion animal, you have just been put into a bind�..do right
by your pet and risk jail time and a fine, or allow the local vet
to treat your animal pal in a way you think might be too risky for
you if you and the rest of your family are a regular users of natural
healing arts products and services. IF you think these DVM-monopoly
laws stink, there are several things you can do about it.

1.
Contact Illinois Alliance For Animal Owners Rights to find out what
the situation is in your state. www.iaaor.org/home.html
This group�s website has lots of key information you need to know
along with a list of state contacts.

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2.
If your state does not have an animal owners rights group, contact
National Health Freedom Coalition. www.nationalhealthfreedom.org
This group has affiliated health freedom groups in 40 states and if
your state is one of them, these folks may be able to help you protect
your rights as what they are doing for health freedom is directly
related to animal owners rights. See below for details on the international
health freedom meeting these folks are hosting starting October 27.
You may want to attend.

3.
Send a copy of this article (and other information like it) to your
state legislators. They need to know what the real story is regarding
DVM-monopoly laws.

Join
us at
the National Conference for Health Freedom Advocates and
World Health Freedom Assembly
October 28-30, 2005
Minneapolis, Minnesotawww.nationalhealthfreedom.org

ACT
FOR HEALTH FREEDOM NOW: Go to www.friendsoffreedominternational.org
and purchase "Death by Modern Medicine" and view and purchase the
new movie on Codex and Free Trade called "We Become Silent" by Kevin
Miller. Proceeds from the sale of these products are crucial to help
fund our health freedom action. For state action go to www.nationalhealthfreedom.org.

Dr. Carolyn Dean
is a medical doctor, naturopathic doctor, herbalist, acupuncturist, nutritionist,
as well as a powerful health activist fighting for health freedom as president
of Friends of Freedom International. Dr.
Dean is the author of over a dozen health books, the latest of which is
"Death By Modern Medicine".

Elissa Meininger,
is Vice President of Friends of Freedom International and co-founder of
the Health Freedom Action Network, a grassroots citizens' political action
group. She
is also a health freedom political analyst and can be heard on the natural
health radio show SuperHealth, broadcast weekly on station WKY (SuperTalk
AM 930) in Oklahoma City.

Thanks
to this new desire for Big Pharma to serve you, you will be glad to know
that your dog now has the opportunity to be diagnosed with �separation
anxiety� so he or she can obtain a prescription to a cross-over drug first
developed as a human antidepressant...